A Valediction Of Weeping

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Let me pour forth
     My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,
     For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear,
     And by this mintage they are something worth,
         For thus they be
         Pregnant of thee;
     Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more,
     When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore,
     So thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse shore.

       On a round ball
   A workman that hath copies by, can lay
   An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,
   And quickly make that, which was nothing, all;
       So doth each tear
       Which thee doth wear,
   A globe, yea world, by that impression grow,
   Till thy tears mix'd with mine do overflow
   This world; by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolved so.

       O more than moon,
   Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere,
   Weep me not dead, in thine arms, but forbear
   To teach the sea what it may do too soon;
       Let not the wind
       Example find,
   To do me more harm than it purposeth;
   Since thou and I sigh one another's breath,
   Whoe'er sighs most is cruellest, and hastes the other's death.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
80

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCXDDEEE FXXFCCGGG HXBHIIAJJ
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,105
Words 197
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

All John Donne poems | John Donne Books

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